Sponsored by


of emerging technologies, especially in sched- uling and advanced forecasting,” he predicts. Coen agrees. “I think we are only at the tip of the iceberg when it comes to AI, but it’s a very exciting time; the use of machine learn- ing, the ability to leverage data to drive better, more informed decisions, is more important than ever. There is absolutely more to come on this as we move towards an era where comput- ers are truly, independently thinking for us. “We will move further and further away from having to give computers data and tell them what to do with it, and rather only have comput- ers give us data and tell us what to do with it.”


ALL CHANGE


As technology has developed so quickly, Seddon has seen attitudes, expertise and acceptance become more polarised across different gen- erations. “Hospitality owners run the risk of being caught up using the traditional prac- tices they prefer instead of looking at how their team would prefer to work,” he warns.


“Innovations such as automated demand forecasting and optimised labour scheduling are instrumental in reducing managerial


administration time” Neil Pickering, Kronos


Coen has also come up against some barri- ers to adoption, including the fact that it can be hard to identify a clear return on investment for employee engagement technology, which can de-prioritise it.


At steakhouse chain Hawksmoor, the senior management team has always been determined to create a positive environment where people want to stay in an industry normally associated with short-term employment. A key component of this


was investing in an effective and accountable system for staff scheduling, HR, payroll and time and attendance processes, including monitoring and tracking new company benefits, such


www.thecaterer.com


as gym membership and health and dental care. Since signing up to Access


People for Hospitality, two of the key benefits the team has seen have been eliminating holiday entitlement confusion and empowering general managers. By including national


insurance and holiday accruals as part of the visible rota wage cost, Hawksmoor’s individual general managers are now empowered to take complete


ownership and control of their own restaurant’s labour costs for the first time. This immediately eliminated staff queries relating to the calculations of their holiday entitlement, avoiding a lot of unnecessary frustration and administration time. Hawksmoor has also


reduced staff turnover and offset many of the wage pressures the hospitality sector has seen since the introduction of the National Minimum Wage and the apprentice levy.


She thinks this type of communication plat- form is only going to become more important to employees. “I firmly believe that prospective employees will be actively asking businesses what types of software they use during inter- view processes,” she says. “And this is some- thing that will become increasingly prevalent as the younger generations, a group with different motivations and expectations from employers, take over a larger market share of the workforce.” For Pickering, the key to success when imple- menting something new is always effective change management – helping people embrace new processes and technologies. “Change is hard for many people, and when you introduce something new to an entire workforce, not every- one will welcome it with open arms,” he says. “This is where the employer needs to ensure its employees clearly understand why the new technology is being adopted and what bene- fits it will deliver to people individually. This is change management in its simplest form – and only once a successful transformation has happened, an organisation can move forward with the bigger picture.”


Technology Prospectus 2020 | 23


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60